I was having coffee with a friend who is openly an atheist and we got into a conversation about the Christian faith. To my surprise, she had loads of questions:
“How does a man dying on a cross save you from your sins? Do you trust everything the Bible says?”
My response was something like, Gulp…silence…gulp. I felt totally unprepared to give legitimate answers to the legitimate questions my friend was asking.
How prepared are you?
Let’s take a look at what Scripture teaches,
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…”
1 Peter 3:15
Did you catch the always there? We are called not sometimes or when we feel like, but to always be prepared to give an answer for why we believe what we believe. From this passage, there are three things you can do to make sure you are prepared next time someone asks you a question about your faith:
- Revere Christ as Lord. Being prepared to share with others about our faith means we must first make sure Christ is the Lord of our lives. There is a difference between knowing Christ as Savior and Christ as Lord. The latter means we have allowed Him to take control of our entire lives and we are committed to obeying everything He leads us into.
- Give reason for the hope you have. One of the best ways of doing this is by sharing our “testimony” of faith. This entails composing a 1-3 minute story of what your life was like before Christ, how you came to believe in Christ and how your life changed after Christ came into your life. Take a look at how the Apostle Paul shares his testimony to convince people of the reality of God in Acts 22:1-22 and be inspired!
- Do this with gentleness and respect. When we share our faith, it is so important not to be rude, pushy or preachy. We must care about the other person’s viewpoints even if they are different than our own. We can ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with His power and that the fruit of Spirit (See Galatians 5:22-23) would be abundant in our conversations with others.
The truth is, we will never be fully ready to share the reasons for the hope we have in Christ. And there is no way we will ever be able to answer every single question that comes our way. But by revering Christ as Lord, crafting your personal testimony, and asking God to fill you with His Holy Spirit, you can be sure you’re are off to a good start.
So get going and ask God to open doors of opportunity to share with others the incredible story of what Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, is doing in YOU!